


In the fog

by Rohragbritz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Fantasy AU, Gore, I'll add additional tags later, Keitor, M/M, Oral Sex, Shameless Smut, Violence, Yôkai, past klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-11 13:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12936387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohragbritz/pseuds/Rohragbritz
Summary: In a world where Yokai and Humans are at war, Keith has always been drawn to the view on top of the walls, overlooking the village he helps to protect and his new home. After recordings of new Yokai attacks arise, Keith has to grit his teeth and bare with the consequences of what he truly is and what that means for his future.





	1. Above the wall

The fog rose high, licking the side of the thick walls baracading the village and hid the ground beneath whith its ominous white glow. It was relaxing, sitting on top of the walls in the early sunlight. 

Keith preferred the night watch just so he could savour the few passing seconds of the sun finally peeking through the distant mountains, pouring sunlight into the forest below and turning the fog from something dangerous, to something beautiful. And it was dangerous. Any soldiers sent to the walls often hated it. Hated the darkness, how they couldn't see anything coming when it could see them, the slow whistling of wind through the trees and odd rustles and breaking of branches could reeel any nerves a man has to putty. 

Keith didn't mind it so much. It was creepy as hell, he had to admit, but he would feel safer knowing there were reliable men on the walls when the village was at its weakest, instead of being woken during the night to screams of terror and a massacre because a guard on duty fell asleep or lost his nerve to ring the warning bells. That heppemed a lot sadly enough. 

Keith remembered a few years ago when a man didn't ring the bells, too terrified to move or yell or do anything. The village thankfully only sustained minimal damage as it was not a planned attack, just a few Yokai being lucky enough to have a coward as the only thing standing in their way of a feast. The man got tried, Keith remembers, he wasn't there for it but he heard that the man was shunned from their village, booted out with only a spear to keep him company. If he was a real soldier than he would survive. Keith doubted it. Ever since then Keith trained harder to get posted on the walls, trained for more hours, went on more hunts, anything to get him up the ranks to captain one of the walls wings. 

Shiro was so proud of him. He was already a commanding officer in the army and wore it proudly that his little brother became captain even a year younger than himself when he was given the duty. At Keith's celebration he even joked that Keith would rise above him some day but Keith only laughed and blew it off. Both of them knowing that He had no interest with a commanding position in the army but rather the top ward of their villages walls. It was a great honour and the highest position one can go to on the walls but didn't hold much power politically. Rather than that, it was Keith's goal ever since he was first posted on the walls. Now being a captain of one of the four wings, he could happily say that that was his life's goal - to rule as the warden over the walls, and watch the fog roll around the village in the early rise of the sun. 

Turning away from his main post he approached one of the soldiers on his wing, a friend of his whom he was a bit tentative to go talk to on the account of the last few days.

"Hunk, ready the signal, our half is going down in the next half hour." The man turned and nodded at him. 

"Yes, Captain."

"Good. Ready the supply gate as well, I was told there would be an early shipment that we will have to take care of before we're off." 

Hunk only nodded again and Keith turned with a stiffness in his shoulders from the formal manner Hunk was treating him with. He knew Hunk and Lance were close friends, but he didn't expect the amount of cold shoulder he would be given from someone he had known for years and trained with. He grit his teeth and walked to where the main supply gate was, telling the soldiers posted there to help Hunk lever the pulley system they had for the gate. He stood watch as he spied the cart moving through the forest track, seeing as it passed swiftly through the breaks in the trees before coming to the clearing where the gate lied open. He immediately spotted Lance, cross bow in hand and crouched next to the driver in the drivers seat. He would think Lance looked ridiculous if he didn't know himself that one has to be on gaurd with the night supply runs, especially when the Yokai were at their strongest. Keith crossed his arms and watched the cart pull through, seeing Lance briefly glance up to him before immediately averting his gaze elsewhere. 'Typical', Keith bit out in his head before waving the soldiers to close the gate and got ready to walk the climb down. There was an elevator but every inch it escalated it always creeked, so Keith preferred to walk the 50 metre stairs instead. 

He sighed and rubbed at his forehead, he didn't know what he was going to do with Lance at this point. Ever since their training days Lance always had a bone to pick with Keith. keith knew he could be a bit...daft with these things but it didn't even cross his mind that Lance could have a crush on him, that is until he stormed into the barracks one day, completely empty except for Keith getting changed, and threw him against the wall before kissing him and confessing his love. Keith shamefully went with it. It wasn't that he didn't like Lance, he thought he was a good soldier and trained hard, but he had no particular strong emotions about Lance going into their relationship, and that's why he found himself now, on the ground floor of the village, seeing the cart pulled up just before the closed gate and Lance already talking up the bakers daughter. Keith had to roll his eyes at Lance trying to pick up a girl merely after the sun came up and just turned away to track his way home. He knew what Lance was doing, and they both knew it wouldn't work. For months now Lance had thrown himself at any pretty girls in front of Keith to try and spark his jealousy. At first Keith didn't mind it as it was just harmless flirting and he knew him and Lance were stable, but then Lance kept on doing it and Keith even found him and some girl behind the barracks with his tongue down her throat. That's where Keith drew the line and broke up with him on the spot. Lance only yelled at him, telling him it was Keith's fault, that he didn't love him and then punched Keith in the face. 

He winced at the memory and tentatively touched his cheek, still tender from the day prior. He really wasn't cut out for this relationship thing, he knew he only dated Lance because of the sudden show of emotion, that Keith didn't really know what to do but kiss back, it was that or punch Lance in the face and he thought that would be a bit harsh. He also knew that a was in the wrong as much as Lance, though, he just wanted to forget about it and clean his hands of this ordeal as fast as possible. He didn't care if people thought he was heartless, he genuinely tried to make it work between them and Lance decided it wasn't enough. He didn't even know there was a problem or if he did something wrong. He decided then and there that relationships and him did not work out. 

Climbing the steps to him and Shiro's house, he opened the rickety door before closing it immediately behind him. The silence from the growing busy street being a refuge. He knew Shiro would be getting up soon and started to make breakfast. He liked cooking, it kept his mind occupied and he welcomed the distraction. He started to make an old Ukrainian dish that His mum showed him - well, that Shiro's mum showed him, being that Keith was originally adopted into the Japanese household. She was an amazing woman and gladly brought Keith in after his uncle passed away. They were neighbours at the time and he already knew the family well enough that he stayed over after school every day. After he was brought into the family he did everything he could not to be a burden and eventually asked Mrs Shirogane if he could help in the kitchen. After that she taught him everything she knew. He smiled as he remembered her easy smile, if he ever had a mother figure in his life, it was definitely Mrs. shirogane. As he was finishing up the dishes, he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see a bed headed shiro scratching at the back of his head and yawning. 

"Morning."

"Breakfast is on the table."

Shiro smiled before ruffling his hair, "thanks, bro."

Keith glared at his turned back and ran his hands through his hair, detangling the mess, "must you?"

"Yep." Was all shiro said, his mouth already full of food. 

Keith only huffed out a laugh before pouncing on Shiros back and putting him in a headlock. Shiro immediately struggled and had to hold both of them up as well as try the wrangle Keith's arms from his throat. He let go and swiftly ran up the stairs, laughing. 

"Oi! Mum always said no wrestling in the kitchen!"

"Well, then don't provoke me!"

He didn't catch what shiro muttered under his breath as he scaled the stairs to his room. Knowing he had an early meeting. Score he could finally crash, he stripped out of his captains uniform and washed up before putting on a pair of comfortable black dress pants and a white dress shirt that he tucked in before clipping his captains badge onto the breast pocket. Clambering down stairs again he peeked into the kitchen to see shiro cleaning the last of his. Real fast before shouting a goodbye and making his way into the now fully crowded streets of his village. 

He swiftly made his way through the markets to the wings command centre where he was immediately waved through the gates and escorted to a hall that sat a large oval table and sat what he spotted the three other wing captains, a few patrol captains and Lance, the night supply captain, who briefly glared at him before resigning all his attention to the woman at the head of the table, commander Allura. 

"Keith, it's good you're here, we were just about to start." She gestured to the empty seat beside another wing captain. He only nodded before sitting down. 

"I've called this meeting to discuss the most sensitive matter that the high command office wants to bestow upon whom is in this room." Allies gestured to a tall man. Beside her, Curan, who was Alluras advisor and personal assistant. The man went around the table and placed a small pile of papers in front of everyone. "These are findings from our resident scientists, displaying on a map where a large number of unusual attacks have occurred recently." She stopped to look around the room, Keith looked down and spotted several large 'X's on a map of the forest area surrounding the walls. There were a lot of 'X'S. "these spots record attacks from the scouts and night supply runners of being ambushed and raided by Yokai, but something that is very interesting is that these Yokai hunt in coordinated groups and..." she stopped unruptly, Keith looked up to see the commander look uncomfortable, "...work together in order to play out their raids." Keith's brows knotted together, he lifted his hand. "Ah, Keith! You have a question?" He nodded, "Commander, I think you've got it wrong, Yokai don't raid-"

"I understand." She interrupted. 

She continued, "But these Yokai do, apparently, as well as reports saying these Yokai are unusually dressed...meaning they're dressed." There was a collected mutter around the table. Yokai are blood thirsty beasts that hunt to feed, for generations there has been a struggle against the war of Yokai and humans. Lance spoke up from the murmurs, "so, commander." Keith noted Lance emphasising the title, "what are we suppose to do about these Yokai?" 

"I'm glad you asked, Lance." Lance looked particularly pleased by that. 

"If you look on the next page, I have coordinated the captains of the wings into teams, you four will collect your best thirty soldiers and do regular sweeps of your designated areas, now, I know that's a lot of ground to cover, which is why you'll be doing them day in and day out in teams of fifteen. You can choose either day or night shift, as long as you have your second in command to take up the other shift." 

"Now, army groups will take your place on the walls, and I know you may not like the idea of doing these searches, but you and your Men know the area the best after all." She cleared her throats and continued, "the day and night supply team captains will help you with these shifts, as well as you covering extra protection for the supply carts." 

'Wait, that means...'

"So if you turn your page again, you'll find out what team captain is with what wing captain, I hope all of you can work together in this run." 

He looked down to see Lances name beneath his, as well as another team captain. 

'Dammit.'

"You're all dismissed."

Keith started to pack up, stretching his tired limbs a little before cracking his neck and getting ready to leave. He spotted Lance on the other side of the room talking to Allura, leaning into her a little and Allura just looking confused. He had to laugh at that, 'sorry, buddy, she's all Shiros.' Before walking out of the room and making his way back out into the busy street, ready to crumple into his bed as soon as possible. 

 

Keith woke with a start and immediately recognised it was late afternoon. Picking himself up from his bed, he wiped the sweat from the summer heat, off his brow and quickly changed into his captain uniform. The uniform didn't differ too much from the soldiers working under him. He wore black combat boots, form fitting pants and a long sleeve shirt with the emblem on the breast pocket, the only differing feature was that his jacket, instead of a dark brown was red and trimmed off with white. He remembered the first day he put his new uniform ons md shiro and his mother told him that the red suited him. He smiled at that. He missed Mrs. Shirogane. 

Gritting his teeth he rubbed his forehead furiously, willing those thoughts to go away before he made his way downstairs. He immediately saw that shiro wasn't home yet from the lack of rock music his brother usually put on anytime he was at home, and instead immediately made his way to his wing. Walking through the closing markets was much more soothing than the morning rush and he took his time to take in the soft, joyous atmosphere of his village. Even though both him and shiro were only there for six years, the place quickly became home as they enrolled to train from the first day they arrived. 

He stationed himself and checked off the soldiers as they came through, making their way into the pulley elevator or better chancing it with the stairs. After checking off the last few late stragglers he was about to make his way up before he heard his name get called. He turned back around to see Allura wave at him, charm by her side and a reluctant Lance short behind them. He walked towards them, closing the distance. 

"Commander." He saluted.

"Keith, I'm glad I caught you." She gestured behind her, "We're going to have a test run of the night supply shift. We've already informed Hunk that he'll be taking over for the night. there is no need to form your teams tonight, we're just gonna go through the sort of routine you and Lance will be expected to go through." She smiled at him, "since your wing has the least attack rate, you'll be first up tonight." Keith nodded and said, "understood." Before he could say anything more Lance spoke up. 

"I'll make sure the carts ready to deploy..." Lance mumbled before trudging off to the large cart settled before the closed gates.

As he was just out of ears reach Allura turned sharply to him, "Keith, I know you and Lance have had your misunderstandings in recent events."

Shocked, Keith cleared his throat before speaking, "how did you-"

"Shiro let me know this afternoon."

This equally shocked Him. He hadn't told his brother anything to do with Lance, although, he knew Lance was a total blabber mouth and news could've spread like wild fire if he wanted to. Keith groaned. 

"Commander, I promise any tensions between Lance and myself won't deter our working together. You have my word." Allura nodded.

"Good. This is far too important for something like relations to get in the way of. Now, remember Keith, I know you want to one day become the wings ward." She put up her hand to stop Keith from shamefully rejecting, "it's okay, my Father has had a long and successful time as the warden, and I'd like to see someone of your caliber step up in his place when he retires." She gave him a small smile. 

Feeling a blush colour his cheeks, Keith only looked down and mumbled a 'thank you' before he felt a presence behind him. Turning, he saw Lance give him a small, murderous look before passing Keith and stood by the Cimmander, smiling. 

"Shall we go than, Princess?" He grinned.

Allura only looked at Lance like he had a third head and turned to Curan, nodding her head as he readied the two horses to the carts front. Getting into the back of the cart where the supplies were, Keith fully noted that Lance took his seat as far as he could from the raven and proceeded to play idly with his cross bow. Keith ran his hands over his own weapon, a thick knife that he brought with him to the village, the only thing his uncle told him was from his mother. He felt conflicted whenever he thought about it. The only thing she left her son was a blade, no note or explanation where she or his father would be, what happened to him, but a blade. It was something he also drew strength from. His mother left him something he could defend himself with, a knife engraved with purple markings and held obvious value. He showed a few people around the village who owned antique shops and scholars from the local library, known of them knew what the markings meant either. That wa fine though. He didn't need to know what they meant, all he needed to know was that he wasn't left with nothing because it made him wonder if his mother was a warrior as well, a soldier, just like him. He couldn't lie that that was the strongest pull to wanting to join the wings and watch over his home. As the cart started to move, he looked over his shoulder to see the looming forest and the sudden chill that ran through his spine, feeling as though something was watching him. He swallowed passed the lump in his throats and gripped the handle of his blade. He had a feeling it would be a long night.


	2. Something in the trees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor introduction into the story and no, there won't be Klance. I just added their post-relationship for the tension idk.

He crouched into a run, lowering his body as much as he could before pressing tightly against the bush obscuring him from the road. 

They were on their fourth hour of he night sweep when they all heard something crack and whip in the air. The cart had lurched on its left dangerously, buckling under the weight of the angle. He remembered being thrown off from the back and just as he was getting up, a startled Shout of "the trees! They're in the trees!" From Lance sent Keith barreling into the opposing bush. Now opposite where the weapon originally came from, Keith scanned the trees, cursing the lack of visuals he had. The fog was so thick here, it hung around and above them like a dispersing cloud, obscuring their view of the threat. Keith already had his knife out and choked back a scream when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Whipping his head around he was faced with Lance, crouching beside him and looking through the same spot, his breathing laboured. 

"T-the driver..." he stammered, still staring at the cart. 

Keith peered through as well, and stiffened as he saw the cart, still laying heavily on its side, had a large pool of blood beneath it, now sinking into the hard soil below it. 

"Damn." He muttered under his breath. 

The surrounding forest became deathly quiet around them. He didn't notice the total lack of sound when he was on the cart. The bumps from the road sufficiently making the cart creak slightly at every second was now washed away. All that was there was the fog. 

"We're hours away from the village, we're not gonna make it back." He heard beside him. 

Keith thought for a moment. They're shift was eight hours long, meaning they were already halfway the circuit, but also that they were at the furthest point from the walls. The Yokai only operated during the night and he counted himself lucky that the sky would get lighter in a few hours. 

"We'll have to wait it out - wait!" He loudly whispered, "where's Allura and Coran?!"

Lances face paled and he started to look through the pushes once more. He cursed. 

Keith moved to his left, trying to take in the scene before him. The whip-like weapon came high from the trees above them at an angle, meaning that these Yokai - and he didn't doubt for a second it wasn't, were very smart. They were waiting for them, he realised. They were waiting for Keith and Lances next move. They most likely had Allura and Coran. Alive? He didn't know. Gritting his teeth he growled lowly. They were playing with them. 

He didn't even realise the sound from his throat was that loud when Lances hand gripped his arm tightly and he stopped, Only to hear a similar sound echo from the trees not ten feet away. The sound was deliberately loud, deep and commanding, threatening them. Keith made a choice right then and there to run. He quickly whipped around, now gripping Lances arm that previously held his. He wretched them from their spot and began to run the opposite direction at top speed. Lance choked down a gasp and scrambled to keep up with Keith.

"Wait! What about the others, we can't leave them behin-"

"They're already dead for all we know! But on the chance that they got away like we did then we're doing them a favour by leading the Yokai away from the road!" He managed to get out with laboured breath. The terrain was rough. The barely lit ground below them kept tripping them up and slowing them down. Keith abruptly stopped at a crossroads between the trees. Before he could think he heard the unmistakable sound of loud rustling in the distant trees behind them. Good, they followed, if Allura and Coran were still alive than they had a decent shot now. Running too speed to his right he broke off with Lance, dropping his arm he realised he was still clutching and running ahead. 

"Come in!" He screamed behind him. 

He ran until he realised he couldn't really feel his legs beneath him any longer. His breath kept getting wracked from his lungs and the burn of his whole lower half numbed the pain of his legs. He tried to focus his mind as much as he could. What could they do? What advantage did they have? He didn't know how many were following behind them, nor the weapons they possessed. Keith gripped his blade and set his jaw. If he couldn't put run them then the options of hiding was slim as well. He wondered for a brief moment if they could take the Yokai on. Allura said they were smarter than the average Yokai, but how much?

He passed trees and leaped through shrubs before he almost tumbled into a river. He skidded to a stop just before his momentum could throw him off the steep bank and into the turbulent water below. He was about to turn to run along the ledge before he realised.

Where was Lance. 

He whipped around and waited a few tense seconds before he could hear thudding footsteps. 'Thank god' he thought, letting out a breath before it was completely knocked out of him. He briefly felt motionless, his body lurched backwards and off the ground, before he hit the water. 

He wasn't entirely submerged that he lost track of which way was up and which down, and he propelled his body to the surface. He could feel his body get swept with the water but focused on getting to air. When he broke through he immediately spotted Lance behind him.

"You idiot!" He shouted angrily, trying to hit the boy with his water adled arms. 

Lances eyes were wide and he sputtered up water before coughing, "it's not like I knew there was a river here!" He angrily shouted back. 

Keith huffed out, pissed off ar Lamces completely lack of situational awareness when the spike of anxiety hit his chest. He twisted his body around in a flash, trying to spot anything on the cliff they previously were located. He felt sick to his stomach when he couldn't see anything there.

Dammit, where was it?! He wretched his body around, still trying to keep himself afloat while he scouted for any sources of life around him. He felt his stomach give out. A minute or so later both boys were no longer panicking. The stream eventually slowed down its current when the water level platooned and they quickly threw themselves up a shallow bank, breathing deeply as they regained their feet. Keith immediately threw up in the water. 

Lance muffled a sound behind him and said, "same."

Every inch of them was soaked and shivering. Both of them still held tight on to their weapons as they started to jog lightly towards the peek of the rising sun. Keith dumbly notedbhat they were swept away even further from the village but kept quiet about it as they moved. 

"Keith.."

"What?" He near shouted, tending his muscles.

Lance stopped his light jog and looked around quickly before continuing. Keith stopped beside him. Lance lightly grabbed at his forearm. "we really...need to talk this out."

Keith was surprised and couldn't help the small laugh that escaped his lips. 

"You really think NOW is the best time, Lance?" He stared at Lance before the brunette shifted his gaze.

"Well, we almost died-"

Anger bubbled in his chest and he ripped his arm out of the others grasp. "Can you put something above your own selfish needs for once?! We don't even know if the others are alright and you want to talk about our relationship?"

Lances face reddened with shame or humiliation, Keith didn't know. He shook his head. 

"So shut up already and keep moving. Jesus Christ, you don't know if the Yokai are still following us!" Keith growled out. He roughly grabbed Lamces arm once more before he heard a branch creak behind them.

"Fucking run!" Keith shot out but stumbled when Lances arm was snatched from his grasp. 

Regaining his stance he looked up, only to see Lances terrified face clasped on either side with two large purple hands. Keith gasped and stared at Lances kneeling figure in front of a much broader, standing one. His hands were shaking just in front of him as if meaning to reach out to Keith. He let out a mangled shriek and Keith realised that blood was starting to drop on either side of his now sobbing head. He was crushing him. 

"Hey!" He yelled at the figure. He was huge, practically a foot taller than Keith and much larger. His ivory skin was covered with a fur skin that wrapped around his shoulders and upper arms. He didn't wear anything underneath, just a hunting fur that ended just above the bottom of his ribs and revealed a tight stomach below. A thick, skin tight material covered his lower half, as well as heavy brown boots. Keith looked up to see flowing, platnum white hair framing a smiling face. The shade of the towering trees above them prevented Keith from seeing the mans eyes.

Keith took a step forward but faltered when Lances cries became louder, evidently from the increased pressure on his skull. The mans hands were bloodied, but Keith had a sinking feeling that the man - that the thing- didn't mind at all.

"Please, release him." He cured silently at the small waver in his voice when he pleaded but only spied the larger mans smile grow. 

"No." There was that deep voice he heard before, but how the Yokai spoke the word was almost like they were foreign to him or like he was picking up a new language and couldn't quite get the tonal words right. Keith shivered. 

Lances cries got louder again, the purple hands on either side of his face now trembling a bit.

"Please, stop!"

"Why..?"

Keith felt sick at the genuinely curious tone in the blondes voice. 

"You're...going to seriously hurt him." 

"Oh." 

He immediately let go. Lances form crumpled to the ground underneath him, the boy now clutching his head and making distorted whimpers in his throat. 

"What do you want?" Keith tried to steadily look up at where he thought the Yokais eyes would be, but even without seeing his eyes he felt his own waver. 

The Yokai started towards him and he made an equal number of steps back. He looked up sharply to the mans face once again to only see intense, cerulean blue eyes start down at him. He felt as if he couldnt move. That gaze didn't hold a frenzy or hunger in them- no, there was hunger, but also intelligence in his gaze. 

"Y-you're not Yokai." Keith stated shakily. 

He didn't realise that he has been backed up until he felt his back breach a tree behind him. The man was now right in front of him. He had to look up to keep his gaze.

"I am." The Yokai mumbled. He just stood there, staring down at Keith with that smile on his face. Keith could feel himself shaking from the fear of this Yokai. He remembered seeing the devistation the Yokai leave in their wake, bloodied bodies, mangled limbs and a mass disarray of blood. His old village, where the Shirogane's took him in. He remembered waking out from the screams outside his window and Shiro's hands shaking his shoulders They hid in a trap door under the floor. Shiro's face was bloodied with a horizontal slash running over his nose and both sides of his cheeks. Keith didn't ask anything, couldn't utter a damn word through his hyperventilating. He could only tug insistently at Shiro's sleeve and relief only washed over him when he uttered, "mum..." and Shiro told him that she was safe in the town hall. After that it was a blur. Hours of staying hidden under the floorboards. On occasion there was a window smashing and chaotic rumbling above their heads before silence fell again. The Yokai that broke in obviously seeing that there wasn't anyone there to feed on. He hated it. The fear that wracked through his body and made him completely useless, paralysed. That's why, when the survivors of the village moved, both himself and Shiro decided to enroll in the military. 

But now he felt his body go on autopilot again, like all those years ago. He couldn't feel anything as the Yokai continued to stare at him. He was useless. Finally facing the source of his nightmares and he couldn't move a damn muscle. The Yokai finally broke his gaze and raised his arm to the side of Keith's face. 

This brought Keith back to reality and he instinctively shoved the Yokai's chest with all his strength before ducking past him to the right and placing distance between them. He quickly looked over at Lances huddled body and thought he may be unconscious. His attention was brought back to the Yokai immediately when he heard a predatory growl. The blonde was now bent at his knees slightly and held himself at a fighting stance as if to pounce on Keith. Before he could do that Keith drew his blade and dove towards the Yokais middle section, unsuccessfully slashing at his stomach when the larger stepped backwards. He then felt an elbow dig into the middle of his back and he cried in pain before being wrestled to the ground. Grappling for a decent hold, Keith tried to twist and stab behind him. A sharp pain at his wrist made him drop the blade and look up at the Large, purple hand twisting his wrist. He immediately relaxed his hand and the Yokai quickly drew back. He only then realised that the Yokai was growling again, but now softer and Keith decided to relax his whole body to the ground, knowing it was the right ting to do when the growling stopped. 

He waited a tense minute before shifting slightly in the hold. He realised that the blonde was still holding him down but not tightly and chose to shift around onto his back. He was suddenly filled with the view of the Yokais face, now relaxed and...happy? He couldn't tell. He glanced over st his blade and realised the Yokai must of nudged it away from him as it lay a few feet away now. Keith chose to use his head - literally. He tried to crane his head back as much as possible before whipping it forward. There was an instant bloom of pain in his head and he groaned. By the similar sound above him he was told that he didn't succeed in much. He sharply realised that the Yokai was distracted and wriggled his hands free from the weakened hold. He quickly shifted his weight back and stood up, towering over the crouching Yokai holding his forehead. He swiftly delivered a kick to its stomach but when he was delivering a second blow the Yokai shot his arm out and pulled on the limb. Keith's whole body twisted and slumped to the ground ungracefully. He tried to get up once again but his arms rippled when the Yokai pounced onto his back and shoved him to the ground for a second time. Before he could do anything, the scruf of his shirt was harshly pulled down and was followed by teeth digging into the flesh of his neck. He remembered screaming briefly before there was a large blow delivered to his head and fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit longer than the first chapter as promised. I'm gonna try to update this as much as I can, meaning some chapter might be days apart while others over the span of a week. I'm thinking of writing a 12 days till Christmas collection as well so that may interrupt chapter progress.


	3. His cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their official introduction, Keith's flusterdness cause Lotors a stud and the beginnings of what's probably Stockholm syndrome.

He first fellt the splitting pain throbbing in his head, reverberating through his skull. But he felt warm, his whole body was almost too hot, but he felt subdued like his muscles werent responding to his movements and he realised that he didnt want to get up. Keith shifted slightly only to feel the tightness around him tense, as if it didnt want him to move. So he didnt. His only real conscious thought was of how he felt his body curled in on tself and a pressing pain on his spine like something was intentionally keeping him held down. Without another thought, he let the warmness surrounding him numb his senses again and fell back to sleep.

 

He sprung awake immediately. Bolting straight up from where he was layed out, Keith realised he was in a cave. Soft light poured in overhead. He peered upwards to realise it was through a crack in the rocks and dumbly noted that he couldnt make out anything else in the space. The light pooled around where he lay and ended a few feet out from around him. Looking down he realised he was wrapped up in multiple furs, enough that the hard ground beneath him didn't dig into his back like he thought it would. The furs were so soft and expertly dealt with that he wondered as to why they were left in a cave. 

He was suddenly hit with the memory of Lances sobbing face, encased with purple hands holding his head in a death-like grip. 

He scrambled back from the fur pile and tripped over in his haste, hitting his lower back on the ground that successfully pulled out a groan from his throat. Thats when he noticed the iron clasp encircing his left ankle to a thick chain winding under his legs and hiding within the numerous furs. He immediately wrestled through the furs before stopping when he found the source of where the chains came from. A huge bar of steel jutted out of the ground beside where he previously lay. He started to panic and whiped around, squinting his eyes into the darkness that surrounded him. 

“I know your there.” He hated that his voice wavered, scratchy from his sleep.

With that thought he indtinctvely grabbed at his neck before wincing at the tender skin. He grit his teeth and growled in frustration, 

“Come out, you coward! What the hell have you done to me?” He started to yank at his chains, satisfied with the loud clang it made with the ground. The silence contiued and he huffed in anger, pulling at the chains he realised how little radius it gave him arond the room and chose to stand up on shakey legs, gripping the chain before making his way to where he tripped over. There was a back wall that was a few feet where the pool of lght ended and he braced himself on the rocky surface before he continued to map out the cave. When he made it to the opposing side, the chain halted his progress before he could make it any further and he felt umeasy at the darkness that lurked in front of him before swallowing a lump in his throat and hastily making his way back to the fur pelts. 

He hated being obscured by the rest of the cave, and felt uneasy about being potentially watched but it was more ominous when he was in the darkness and couldnt see anything around him. So he sat down on the pelts and waited. He didnt actually know if someone was there but being surrounded by the only source of light in the cave made him feel like something was staring at him. 

He didnt know how long he sat there,but he shortly got bored, running his hands over the pelts and decided to lie down again, his had still pounding slightly. He decided quickkly that two could play at this game and decided to shift the pelts just out of the light where the back of tthe cave was and settled down, facing the cave. If something was really there it wold hve to move into the light before it could reach him.

‘That Yokai…’ he thought, tenderly touching the hot skin of his nape again.

He soon forgot he was even in the cave, too consumed with the thought of the Yokai that attacked him and Lance. ‘Lance...is he okay? Why isnt he here with me if the Yokai wanted prisoners…’ is that what he was, a prisoner? He looked down at his chain and decided that was the best concludion. This Yokai was smart after all. Allura said that there was a group of them though, that raided the carts. Why was there only one Yokai that went after him. did they think he was so weak that they only needed one to succeed in sabotaging the cart? 

‘Still...where is Lance?’ Maybe he was in a different cave...'He didnt want to think of the possibility that the Yokai killed him. But if so, why was Keith here...

His thoughts broke when he heard a small scuffle on the cave ground and hastily sat up, pressing his back against the wall.

“I know your there!” he shouted, the sound echoing hollowly through the cave.

“What do yo-” something shifted into the light, skirting on the edge where Keith couldnt quite make out the shape but he swallowed thickly when he realised it was a humanoid figure, crouching. 

It skirted side to side, as if it was trying to get to Keith without having to expose itself completely. Whatever it was, it was so...animalistic. Almost primal in its crouched movements. Keith only stared at its actions before he glanced at a peek of silver hair glinting in the light. 

"hey, Yokai!" It stopped.

"Where the hell am I? And Lance, where is he, I swear to God if he's dead than I'll gut you!" He yelled.

The silence that followed only broke when a hand reached out toward him, laying down a round object before retreating into the darkness. He saw that it was an apple. 

"What...?" He muttered before snatching the fruit off the hard ground. He searched the skin of the fruit, looking for any indication that the Yokai put some sort of funky mushroom or whatever in it. He didn't put 'it' above drugging him. 

When he didn't see anything he just set the apple down on his lap. He had to admit, he was at a loss. Did this Yokai really want him to eat something? 

"You didn't answer my question."

He heard a hard whine in response. 

"Eat." 

"No."

A growl. 

He huffed, putting the apple back in the light.

"Why not."

"You didn't. Answer. My. Question." He gritted out.

Silence followed and he slumped back on the hard wall. 

After a few minutes his patience ran out and he grabbed at the fruit before throwing it at where he thought the Yokai was.

"answer me, dammit!"

He knew he didn't succeed when he heard the undoubtedly loud clash of the apple with the far wall.

He heard a shift of movement. 

"....Lance." The Yokai spoke. Keith's head whipped up. 

"Yes! Where is he?" 

He heard more movement and was surprised when he saw the Yokai slowly creep into the soft light. He pointed at his face. 

"Blue."

"What?"

"Blue..." the Yokai pointed straight at his eyes.

Keith stared.

"Lance....blue. Yes?" 

'Was he...describing him?"

"Yes. Lance has blue eyes." He slowly said in complete confusion as to what this measnt entirely. The Yokai just nodded. Keith had a second chance to look at the creature once again. He was unmistakably Yokai by his purple complexion and how he fought, but he didn't have any thick patches of fur. Either in his body or face like usual Yokai. Keith was about to ask about it when the creature moved back into the shadows. 

All he said was "not dead" before Keith could hear a scuffle in the rocks to what he guessed was the wall opposite him. 'Was he scaling the walls?!' 

"Hey, wait! You didn't answer my other question, Yokai!"

He didn't hear anything else except for what he guessed was a mumble under the Yokais breath. He thought he said "safe" before total silence but passed it off as it made everything more confusing and Keith's head hurt. 

 

He didn't realise that he had fallen back to sleep when there was a soft push at his shoulder. Blinking away his sleep, Keith looked up to see imploring blue eyes before bolting straight up, and knocking their foreheads together for a second time. He clutched at his head with a deep groan and looked over to see the crouching Yokai do the same. 

"What do you think you were doing?" He bit out.

The blomde just glared at him before he nudged a sack closer to Keith whilst edging backwards as if from a rabid animal. 

He stared at the pouch before there was a threat clearing, "eat...water, too." 

Keith hesitantly opened the pouch and was delighted to be greeted with a small collection of fruits. He didn't realise he was so hungry until a growl escaped his more than empty stomach and fully noted how the light from earlier in the cave was significantly subdued now. Was if later in the evening? He couldn't tell. He quickly threw caution to the wind and dug in to his meal. There was no point int he Yokai drugging him since he was already chained down and practically vulnerable to the will of this creature...so for now, he decided he would humour him. 

Halfway into the fruits he spotted a smaller, individual pouch and was relieved to find it held water. 'Thank god' he thought, drinking the lot immediately. 

When he was done eating what he assumed was all fruits (some he didn't recognise and looked pretty exotic), he put trhe pouches down and attempted to stare at the void of darkness that he was greeted with. There was an unsettling thought that he would soon be alone with this creature...in the dark, where they thrived the most and wouldn't even be able to hide with sleep as he was well rested. 

"Thanks, I guess." 

At hearing the words the Yokai once again inched into the light, hair in a small disarray framing his, quite frankly, perfectly angular face. 

Damn, at another time Keith would be completely taken with this Yokais appearance. But he only cleared his threat and looked down. 

"Will you tell me what you want with me?" He falanced up.

The Yokai seemed to shift a bit uncomfortably under his gaze and placed a hand over his chest.

"No good."

"Excuse me?"

"No good." he repeated, a bit more forcefully.

When Keith continued to stare at him he began to get frustrated, knitting his white brows. He then pointed at his throat instead.

"No good."

'Oh.'

Keith pointed at his own mouth.

The Yokai nodded and looked relieved. 

He couldnt speak well. 

Well, at least now he knew why he was getting the completely cryptic replies. 

Keith thought for a moment, how could he talk to this Yokai when he barley spoke English? Wait, how did he even learn English? 

Grabbing the chain attached to his leg and lifting it off the floor slightly he said, "why."

The Tokai looked from his ankle to his face for a moment and replied, "no run."

Well, no shit. 

He just huffed and dropped the heavy iron, the clang echoing throughout the cave filled the awkward atmosphere. 

The Yokai shifted closer, snatching Keith's hand before he could react and placed his splayed fingers over his own chest. Keith tensed his muscles as the Yokai could continue. 

"Keith." The blomde said with surety.

Keith nodded but creased his brows in confusion. The Yokai jostled his hand a bit over his chest and said Asian, "Keith."

Understanding flooded through the ravens brain and didn't protest when the blomde moved his hand to splat over his own fur covered torso. 

"Lotor."

 

When 'Lotor the Yokai' as Keith had started calling him, left the cave once again, it was with a red hand print blooming on the side of his face. When The Yokai gave Keith his name Keith just snapped. He had slapped the taller man before he realised he was doing it and looked away when the blomde looked at him with the most pitiful expression. Like Keith hurt him. After that, Lotor quietly stood up and shifted back into the darkness. Keith refused to try and find him in the darkness and just played with the chain encircling his ankle. The small scuffle of rocks notified him that the Yokai had gone out of the cave again. 

Shit, what the hell was that about? 

Keith stood up, stretching his limbs and cracking his neck from the stiff position he had slept in. He was completely awake. Without thinking about it too much he dropped back down to a push up position and started doing sets. He needed his head clear. Time slowly slipped away from him as Keith started to think things over. Is 'Lotor' the only Yokai that will come into the cave? Allura said their was a group so where was the rest. He hoped the commander and her advisor made it out alright and Lance...he at least hoped he was alive like Lotor said. His thought began to wander to the Yokai himself. What did he want with Keith exactly. He was the only one brought to the cave so there's a clear distinction that Lotor wanted something from him. The more he pondered what that could be exactly the more he got confused. He turned over to do sit ups. 

Lotor brought him down like Keith was a child. Someone who trained for years in the military. He had natural brute strength and was quick like the whip he used to sabotage the cart...actually, he didn't remember seeing him with the whip when he intercepted Lance and himself. 

Lotor hadn't asked him any form of information about his village or the walls but he didn't write it off as a future occurrence. Maybe he's a hostage! That was the only favourable explanation. The Yokai took Keith and not Lance because he needed someone to relay the message, he thought it was pretty weird that Lotor chose him but coughed it up as the Yokai not wanting to worry about a dead hostage. That means the Yokai may have taken Lance back to the walls. 

If he was a hostage than he guessed Lotor may be an inbetween for the Yokai as a translator, even though his English was pretty shit. He huffed out a laugh at the memory of the Yokai awkwardly trying to converse with him. 

Yeah, in any other situation Keith could find himself liking the Blonde very much. Of course, that was only a thought. He knew the ridiculousness of the idea and went back to his sit ups.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any pressing prompts for a 12 days of Christmas one-shot series then don't be afraid to shoot. I'm a pretty shitty writer but I've only just moved to Ao3 when I previously posted my fics on fanfiction.net. I haven't actually written anything with a narrative in six months cause I was swamped with essays but I'll probably just get into the swing of things the more I write.


	4. Founded things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day.

He woke up the next day to the soft pelts melded to his skin, flattened from his weight. The cave got weirdly hot and he had to shed his top layers during the night. Even through the unsettling darkness, light slowly crept into the high ceiling cave. To which Keith can now map out as the suns premature rise gave enough light, but not enough to alienate him from the room, but to properly see his surroundings. The cave was rough but had a flat floor, almost circular in shape. The walls rose to the size of a second scale building in his village and was completely devoid of any possible escape route, except for the cut in the ceiling above him and a small black hole devoid of any life that rested a few feet above his head. He couldn’t see whether or not the hole led anywhere, but considering he doubted that the Yokai scaled the ceiling hole, he better that there was his in and out. The ceiling cut was oddly scar shaped. It reached both ends of where the wall lay, splitting the rock in the middle to open up just over a foot. With his surroundings fully noted in Keith’s mind, he resigned himself to sleep once again, having nothing else to do and with the knowledge that screaming would most likely just draw the attention of the Yokai. 

 

When he woke again Lotor was sitting opposite him. 

He had his legs folded, sitting upright against the wall behind him and lazily looked Keith over as he sat up from the pelts.

“Hello.”

He didn’t reply, just scaled Keith’s upper form with his narrow, blue eyes. He had a fruit in hand and bit into it indifferently, still watching the human.

Keith gulped when he saw Lotors sharp canunes and suddenly felt the weight of his shackles.

A minute passed before he realised that there was a large fruit rested on the floor in front of him, just where the chain would strain his mobility. He looked to the fruit then to the Yokai, seeing how the blomde man just kept staring at him. 

Is he resting him?

He got up on shaker legs, crouched slightly at the knee, not wanting to find himself suddenly jumped for the sake of a damned fruit. He inched towards the fruit and the Yokai, ready to strike out if he needed to, not thinking of the lack of movement he’s resorted to. When he was at arms ready, he snatched the large circular fruit, pausing for a moment as the Yokai shifted to his hind legs and stretched out his hand, clearly offering his half eaten fruit to Keith.

He raised his brows.

“What?”

Neither of them moved. Keith looked down at the large piece in his hands, clean and intact. And shook his head to Lotor. Without further instruction Keith hastily crept back to his pelts, not turning his back for a second. When he felt the furs beneath him, he plopped himself down and started to eat. 

The taste was sweet, weird though. As he latched his teeth into a second bite, he looked up and saw a frown deeply set in the Yokais features. Biting into the fruit slowly he watched as the blonde huffed in frustration before getting up and walking towards Keith.

He stopped a foot away from the pelts and reached down to wrtech the food from the humans hands.

“Hey!” He immediately tried to get the fruit back, beating his arms ungracefully on the Yokais form. The taller only growled only and threw his uneaten fruit to Keith who barely caught it.

“What- ew, no, I do t want this. Give me mine back!” He said loudly, the echoe stopping him from saying anything further. It was too late though cause the Yokai has already retreated back to the far wall, staring at him as he bit into Keith’s fruit. 

“Asshole!” He yelled, throwing the eaten piece towards the blonde.

He only got a deep growl and bares teeth in response before he picked up the discarded fruit and scaled the wall the the hideaway hole Keith had noticed earlier. 

After that, he didn’t see him again for the rest of the day. 

He spent most of his time thinking about the Yokai, how he differed from others he had encountered. Lotor was very intelligent for his species, or...sub-species? He didn’t look like a typical Yokai at all, missing the tell-tale chilly facial hair and dark purple shade. His skin was instead a light hue of lavender that Keith thought suited him better, unable to imagine Lotor with the whisky jaw fur of his kin. 

Keith didn’t let himself think of his feature too long though. He didn’t think of that long, wild hair that rested last his shoulders and somehow always looked amazing in his unkept stare. Or how his jaw line and cheek bones could cut a bitch if you get too close. And definitely didn’t think about his captors eyes. The alluring blue orbs that would stare at Keith with untold mystery. Mystery that Meith couldn’t help but want to savagely rip open and peer into with a low hunger in his gut. Or was he just starving? He didn’t know. It wasn’t like he was thinking about him. 

He had absolutely nothing to do ther than pick at the chain around his ankle and give his undivided attention to the pelts above him as they were the only other things in the room that weren’t rock. 

He sat there as the cave got lighter, bright enough to make his surroundings pitch black, then eventually the light started to mellow out.

‘Lare afternoon’ he thought. 

He didn’t know when, but sometime in the day Lotor had come back and placed a small bundle on the edge of Keith’s ‘perimeter’ as he called it. The line of which Keith had carved into the floor with the edge of the cuff on his ankle to draw out the line where he couldn’t cross. He put it into the back of his head that he didn’t actually hear Lotor coming trough the hole like yesterday and resided to just eat in peace, finally. 

 

For the rest of the day he was unbothered and fell asleep, almost peacefully, with the hope that Lotor, or any Yokai, would come in. 

He actually dreamed.

It wasn’t a nightmare like he would usually get, but an actual dream. 

The old cottage he hazily remembered, surrounded by a field of long grass, the tips brushing the bottom of slowly billowing sheets that hung from the clothes line. He could almost hear the distant ‘whoosh’ and ‘clunk’ of the water wheel, a constant sound in the picturesque memory. The cottage itself was simple and was almost always devoid of cluttered objects. Clean and homely the place was a great source of comfort to him. The cool tiles that met his small bare feet, a welcome relief from the sun outside. A soft breeze that flowed easily through the open windows and tussled the grass outside as if they were dancing. 

He vividly remembers running through that grass at the back of their house. He ran and ran, his head barely reaching the top of the whiskers that moved like waves in the wind. He ran and danced and flung himself aimlessly and carefree in the weeds, rolling around and laughing, sometimes acting like a lion and stalking his prey, jumping out at his unsuspecting cat. Sometimes he would just lie there, under the sun, heavy white clouds passing by him. Happy. 

And her voice. A trickling sound of honey that bummed wherever she would go, and Keith would always know where she was. He remembers very little of her. The fact beat down on his chest so heavily every time he thought of her, not remembering her face, too young to accurately depict her likeliness. But she had long black hair, yeah, he remembered that. And soft hands that played with his own growing locks, hands that would massage his head and would wind around him when he was playing outside. Her voice, her touch, but not her face. Keith would never know what his mother looked like. 

He briefly felt himself coming back to consciousness. His mind lifting from the numb ache of his memories. Distorted memories. Wrong memories. He also casually noted that his face was wet. But then he felt soft hands in his hair again, a body pressed to him that projected warmth and something solid. Without coherent thought, he let himself be lulled back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven’t updated for like a month, but I needed time to gather my thoughts on this fic and where exactly I’m gonna go with it.
> 
> Notify me if there’s any startling edit errors.

**Author's Note:**

> Auto corrects a bitch and my sight is shite, so if there are any outstanding grammatical errors please let me know and I'll do a read through again. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'll make sure to make them longer in the future but for now I just wanted to get this story up and running.


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